I'd like to get a small project/group buy going and need to find either a vendor or a manufacturer who would be interested in making a rear seat delete kit, preferably in carbon fiber.

What I'm looking to do in this thread is get some suggestions, gauge interest, and estimate reasonable price point. If anyone is interested please drop in and answer some basic questions:

-Whats your price point ?
-Carbon fiber or fiberglass ?
-Would you buy if this ends up at $600-$800?

I have in mind a manufacturer, but if anyone has a suggestion I will contact them and see.

Here are some examples of what I'm looking to have made:
Seibon - FT-86

IND - m3

Origin - 240sx

 

You will need to fiberglass a mold which would get pretty messy. Once the mold is made you can send it out to have the manufacturer produce the covers in either FG or Carbon. This would be a time consuming, but easy project.

 

Plywood and 3M Carbon Fiber Vinyl. I can make you one for 50 bucks.

 

If you really want a rear seat delete, trade your car for a 350z.

 

I could at this time proceed to exhaustively express the many reasons one might consider to justify a modification such as this. Those reasons might fall within the realm of weight loss and dual purpose track/street use or perhaps gravitate towards the show and go scene where so much as a strip of carbon fiber elicits adoration.

Such reasons and many others clearly fall short of your intellectually superior and economical viable expertise. Your wisdom is greatly appreciated.

In case you missed it, that's sarcasm you Neanderthalian simpleton.

 

id be interested in something like this, but Row2k, i think we might be some of the only ones. most people arent and havent been building real performance cars out of these things because it costs an arm and a leg. now, an arm and a leg short, i find myself ready to give up the other arm and the other leg to see if i can finish it up

 

I will most likely build the fiberglass molds for a set of rear seat delete panels sometime this winter, but not sure when i'll actually make the finished pre-preg carbon pieces. I need to finish my front splitter first. Once I have something Ill post it up and see if anyone else is interested.

Regardless I'll definitely do this as I can't get to the back of my car at this point anyway with my new seats:

 

If a person really wanted weight loss, then they would just strip their car and not put weight back in the car with a big piece of carbon. Im sure you know the rear seat weighs in at only 36 pounds. A huge piece of wet laid cf will probably weigh about 15lbs, saving you a whopping 18 lbs. That is almost 0.5% weight savings WOW! I still fail to see how a big piece of cf will help you with track/street use. Is it suppose to add down-force inside the car? But I think you finally got to the entire reason with your final statement. You want to do it purely to pull up to parking lot meets and tell people "Hey look at my cf rear seat delete" then have a bunch of prepubescent teens get wood at the marvel that is your G35.

 

well.....ill divulge a sliver of my thoughts to you for no other finite reason that the fact i like to argue on the internet....its pointless, but fun...quite a bit like masturbation.

1. you're an idiot .... first thoughts reading your response

2. removing the back seats causes the a lot more drone to enter the cabin area from the exhaust, plus the exposed metal does not look appealing. The carbon panel perhaps with a low density foam backing is an effort to reduce the drone and improve the look of the cabin. I have not yet selected the type nor density of the foam to use.

3. I will be using pre-preg carbon, not wet laid. The only thing being wet laid is the fiberglass mold. For the advantages and drawbacks of using pre-infused / pre-preg carbon, please use google.

4. The purpose of this is to make the car lighter not to give prepubescent boys wood. I don't particularly care for boys, also i would imagine erotic activity directed towards prepubescent boys might be deemed illegal by some. However I try not to judge, so whatever works for you.

5. I have now stripped approximately 200lbs of my car. I welcome another 30lbs.

6. Please see point #1

Best Regards and Kindest Thoughts,
Mario

 

FINALLY!!!! haha i have been waiting for this for a long time just wondered when some1 would up and do it. I would definitely be interested in seeing the end result and purchasing one if the quality is right. A couple things to consider :
1. Will it be foam backed or some type of insulation on the rear of the "cover/carbon" to reduce rattles and annoying noises.(as the G already has plenty)
2. Personally i think the origin 240 with the rear seat delete in you original post should be the model . Simple and curvy as to reflect our interiors design a bit

Keep US posted

 

You obviously have never done this before or have any idea what you are talking about. Pre-preg is still wet layup, just with a smaller resin/fiber ratio. I will help you out here because you are clearly clueless. The CR value is the fiber/resin ratio in the prepreg. Wet layup CR is typically about 50/50 (depending on skill of user it can reach 70/30), prepreg is about 70/30 to 65/35, though an autoclave can reduce it to 80/20. So yes, prepreg can save about 10-20% resin per square meter for people unskilled with hand layup. The main benefit of prepreg wet layup vs hand wet layup is ease of use and consistency, not weight saving.

Also using prepreg requires storage in near freezing temps, vacuum bagging, and an autoclave or oven. Since you haven't ever done it before, I am just going to assume you do not posses proper storage, vacuum bagging materials, or an oven large enough to cure. I hope you're ready spend thousands on necessary equipment.

So, let's say by some miracle you actually pull it off. After you empty your pathetic savings account, have a panel that actually fits and shaved maybe 20 lbs from your track monster. Your next plan is to cover the back side with sound deadening material? Throw on acouple sheets of dynamat, now your weight savings is in the 15-16lb range.

The intelligent thing to do here would as follows.
1. Stop trying to pretend you know what you are doing or talking about
2. Get some cardboard and make a template of the back
3. Get some cheap plywood from HomeDepot and cut out cardboard template.
4. Wrap plywood in carpet to match interior. (or even 3M carbon fiber vinyl to impress your "track" buddiees)
5. Less than $100 spent and Done (almost the same amount of weight savings)

This is how the E46 guys do it.

 

love it when WhosUrBuddiee ***** in someone's cereal

 

I'm proud of you, you've actually used google this time before you wrote nonsense. I mean you still wrote nonsense, but it's clear you searched first. Good job, at least when I leave this argument I'll be able to say that I have taught a monkey how to eat a banana <ba-dum ching>

...I'm so funny sometimes.

Regardless, however well you copied and pasted your initial paragraph from whatever source you found, it doesn't prove any substantial knowledge of the topic on your own.

In light of this, I highly recommend a visit to compositecentral.com and creating an account. The forum offers a vast wealth of knowledge for the DIY composite amateur. You can learn for example that pre-preg depending on the resin used, does not mean you have to store it cold. The resin infused will dictate temperature storage conditions. Also an autoclave is not necessary, a home made hot box / oven and vacuum supply connection can be adequate. Regardless if I find the fiberglass mold too large for my needs and the hot box too much of a nuisance I will simply go with MTI vacuum hose infusion. Again I hugely recommend compositecentral.com , it's easy to set up an account....even Curious George could do it...get it? get it ??! ... He's a monkey !!!

In any which case, I still don't understand what you are trying to accomplish here. For reasons unknown to me you are doing the very best to persuade me against attempting this ...honestly not even that challenging project. So let me be clear. This is clearly not for you nor is it something you would be interested in purchasing even if it was available (You've made that clear enough) I am making this for my car, not yours. Also I don't care how the e46 guys do it. I only hope they are happy with the results, which by your picture look lovely, kudos to whoever made that. Lastly I don't care if you like it or not, however if anyone else on here is interested in seeing how this comes out when I make it, please feel free to check in every now and then.

You sound quite a bit like the naysayers that kept persuading me and a number of other individuals from getting carbon fiber driveshafts for our cars. Ended up being one of my favorite mods. Ultimately do you know what you're not doing here....you're not helping this project and your attitude is clearly not helping to progress this platform. Your a negative Nancy.

Kind Regards,
Mario

 

fun thread

 

As someone who actually has built several carbon fiber aero pieces, I was trying to impart upon you some knowledge. The only thing you actually got correct in your statement was the amateur part. CF isn't something that requires a vast amount of knowledge, as it is very simple, just a bit expensive and time consuming. Really all it requires is some common sense... which sadly you seem to be lacking in this discussion.

Yes you do not need an autoclave. That is why I specifically said autoclave/oven (read slower next time). But using an oven, you really have no advantages over hand layup. Now I see you plan on ghetto rigging some home made hot box in your apartment? I see that one ending well

You are not the first kid to come in here with what he thinks is some revolutionary idea, that has never been done before in the auto industry. I was explaining to you that basically what you are doing is vastly more expensive than what you are thinking and utterly pointless other than looks. I am also trying to understand your train of though to spend thousands to make a part to save you 10lbs. You could essentially achieve the same results in half an afternoon and $100.

People only tried to steer you away from CF drive shafts because they are expensive and provide little gain. You were not the first to think of it or do it for the G35. Even the stock 350GT has carbon composite drive shafts stock.

Now I am actually excited to see where this goes. Let me know in 6 months when you abandoned the project, though I expect this is all pipe-dream BS and you will not even attempt it.